Welcome to CAN Newsletter, 29 June 2011!

Due to technical problems this edition came out a few few days later. Apologies for the delay. The CAN Newsletter Team

In order to minimize the amounts of emails you receive from the CAN listserv, we have decided to organize the incoming information into a CAN Newsletter that will be published on a bi-weekly basis. The Newsletter depends on you for content! To contribute, send any relevant information to cancontribute@gmail.com.
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CAN News: Successful CAN advocacy at the UN HLM
CAN News: Well attended co-hosted CAN side event at the UN HLM
News: Bold new AIDS targets set by world leaders for 2015
News: A strategic revolution in HIV and global health
News: Round 11 call for proposal dates
Sharing Experiences: Impressions from the HLM June 6th – 10th
Sharing Experiences: Multi country HBC mappings and Synthesis Report done by Cordaid and partners
Resource: Unpaid carers save £119 billion a year
Resource: Towards an improved investment approach for an effective response to HIV/AIDS
Resource: Good practice guide: community mobilisation through women’s groups to improve the health of mothers and babies
Resource: Political will for better health, a bottom-up process
Event: 6th IAS Conference on HIV pathogenesis, treatment and prevention, 17-20 July 2011, Rome, Italy

Do you want to read prior editions of the CAN newsletter?
Bi-weekly 10 June 2011
Bi-weekly 27 May 2011
Bi-weekly 13 May 2011

CAN News

Successful CAN advocacy at the UN HLM
Over the last few months CAN has been working to influence the outcome of the UN High Level Meeting on HIV. Our engagement began at the Civil Society Hearing in April and continued throughout the negotiation process on the outcome document and on to the HLM itself. CAN members worked hard to include and maintain minimal language on care and support into the outcome document – “The Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: intensifying our efforts to eliminate HIV/AIDS”. The ball is now in our court to make these pronouncements a reality in our respective countries to support those we care for and for ourselves as careers.

For the final document check the last newsletter here.

The following text was included in the declaration and can be used in your advocacy efforts. Read more.

Well attended co-hosted CAN side event at the UN HLM
In addition to our work on the language, CAN also co-hosted an official side event on care and support in partnership with the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development Care and Support Initiative and the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance. The event was sponsored by the Government of Kenya, Japanese Mission to the UN, UNICEF, UN Women and UNDP. Around 70 representatives of governments, UN agencies and civil society attended the event.

The event started with a personal testimony from Kufekisa Laugery, a grandmother carer from Zambia. Kufekisa stressed “as grandparents and community workers we are good at giving care. What we lack is financial and material support. Please give us this support. Without support the best we can give is emotional care and without comprehensive care, prevention and treatment will not succeed”. Kufekisa was followed by Agnes Atim, a Ugandan woman living with HIV, who spoke about her experience in both providing care and also the care and support she received when she was first diagnosed and continues to receive now.

Our third speaker Alloys Orago, the Director of the NACC in Kenya, presented the HIV response in Kenya including the role of community based programmes (one of four pillars of the national response) and the need for comprehensive care and support, stressing the importance of “a package of care for HIV infected people, which includes clinical, psychosocial, social, legal and nursing care”. The final speaker, Masaki Inaba from the Global Health Program, Africa Japan Forum, stressed the fact that care shouldn't be the missing link in the response and gave examples of care and support interventions in Japan and his organisation’s work in Africa. The event was chaired by Jimmy Kolker, the chief of HIV and AIDS at UNICEF with discussants from UN Women and UNDP.
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News

Bold new AIDS targets set by world leaders for 2015
Please see a press statement from UNAIDS on the new political declaration on HIV which has been formally adopted today by United Nations Member States at the close of the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS.

Please also find here the full text of the declaration Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS: Intensifying our Efforts to Eliminate HIV/AIDS.

A strategic revolution in HIV and global health
The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9783, Page 2055, 18 June 2011

Last week saw the conclusion of a landmark event in the recent history of AIDS. The two turning points took place in New York. The visible one was a high-level meeting on AIDS, which brought 3000 participants to the UN to review progress in defeating an epidemic 30 years into its devastating course. Ambitious new targets were agreed. Countries committed themselves to, by 2015: halving sexual transmission of HIV; halving HIV transmission among people who inject drugs; ensuring that no child will be born with HIV; getting 15 million people onto treatment; and halving deaths from tuberculosis among people living with AIDS. Read more.

Round 11 call for proposal dates
Round 11 will be launched on 15 August 2011, with a submission date of 15 December 2011.

Changes to eligibility & prioritization policies
At its 23rd meeting, the Board approved a new policy on eligibility criteria, counterpart financing requirements, and prioritization of proposals for funding from the Global Fund (GF/B23/DP23).

The new policy (GF/B23/14 Attachment 1) is now available for download as presented to the Board by the Joint Policy and Strategy/Portfolio and Implementation Committee.

This new policy shall apply to Round 11, the Second Wave of National Strategy Applications (NSA), the Health Systems Funding Platform (HSFP) pilot and future funding opportunities.

An information note on Eligibility, Counterpart Financing and Prioritization is now available for download (PDF).

Further information will be published on this website in June 2011.
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Sharing Experiences

Impressions from the HLM June 6th – 10th
Agnes Atim, NACWOLA - Uganda was part of the CAN Team during the Universal Access High Level meeting. Read her impressions.

Multi country HBC mappings and Synthesis Report done by Cordaid and partners
Malawi National community home based care policy and guidelines (2011)

The health sector experienced  anincreasing number of patients with chronically / terminally ill conditions like HIV, cancer, tuberculosis, liver cirrhosis etc.  requiring ongoing care in the home. Care of chronically sick/terminally ill people in the home has existed in the past in different societies. Home care draws on two strengths that exist throughout the world: families and communities. They form the basis of Community home based care (CHBC). CHBC provides hope to patients as they receive care in their natural settings, maintain independence and achieve the best possible quality of life.

The CHBC policy and guidelines clearly defines what CHBC providers should do in the home to improve the health status, environment and quality of life of chronically /terminally ill patients and vulnerable children. This is through delivery of a package of interventions at family and community level.

The national CHBC policy and  guidelines has been reviewed to guide CHBC service providers in government agencies, Non Governmental, Community and Faith Based Organization to provide quality and standard CHBC services. This document will also assist programme managers, health and social workers in planning, designing, implementation and evaluation of Community Home Based Care services in Malawi. Adherence to the policy and guidelines by all implementers will ensure improved service delivery, coordination and networking amongst stakeholder institutions at all levels.
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Resources

Unpaid carers save £119 billion a year
Carers UK and the University of Leeds have published the report Valuing  carers 2011 which gives national, regional and local estimates of carers' contribution, updating estimates published by Carers UK in 2007. New estimates show that care provided by informal carers in the UK is worth £119 billion a year, 37% higher than the 2007 estimate. View full article.

Towards an improved investment approach for an effective response to HIV/AIDS
The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9782, Pages 2031 - 2041, 11 June 2011

Substantial changes are needed to achieve a more targeted and strategic approach to investment in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that will yield long-term dividends. Until now, advocacy for resources has been done on the basis of a commodity approach that encouraged scaling up of numerous strategies in parallel, irrespective of their relative effects. We propose a strategic investment framework that is intended to support better management of national and international HIV/AIDS responses than exists with the present system. Click here to view full article.

Good practice guide: community mobilisation through women’s groups to improve the health of mothers and babies
Source: Eldis Health Reporter (Produced by: Women and Children First (UK) (2011)

This good practice guide, based on the experience of a project in India and Bangladesh called Saving Mothers and Children, describes an approach that has the potential to reduce maternal and newborn deaths, and to address other health problems. The project worked through women’s groups, using a participatory learning and action cycle, to mobilise community action to improve the health of mothers and babies. Download PDF here.

Political will for better health, a bottom-up process
Author: Wim De Ceukelaire, Pol De Vos, Bart Criel ;
Source: International Health Policies in the news #123 15

The field research in which these researchers have been involved over the past 20 years in the Philippines, Palestine, Cuba, and Europe confirms that organized communities and people's organizations can effectively pressure the state into action towards realizing the right to health. Social movements and public health researchers have a lot to learn from each other. Click here to view full article.
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Events

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